Chapter 17 commentary

In Heisei 7, in the memorable year of ushering in the 30th anniversary of the author's creative career, Morimura Seiichi published quite a few articles, represented by "The Original Colors of Dreams" (Kadokawa Shoten Magazine), which boldly expresses modern customs. A new issue of mystery fiction.At this moment, works that look back at Japanese history from a unique perspective, such as the novel and "The Sword of Man" that trace back history with an unnamed sword (a sword without the name of the caster), are attracting more attention at this moment. It was a year to fully demonstrate the charm of "The World of Morimura's Mystery", which keenly and meticulously depicts the images of living beings in modern society.The original title of "The Messenger of Nightmare" was serialized in "Novel Gems" (Showa 62, 8~10), and it was included as one of the K novels (Guangwenshe) in September of Showa 62 (1987). It is a long mystery novel with a new trend.

Abandoned babies, hit-and-runs, suicides by company employees, suicides by housewives, murders of widows in luxury hotels, and the dead bodies of journalists floating on Cape Irako on the Atsumi Peninsula... These events at different times and in different places are scattered throughout the story.Some seem to have no causal relationship, while others coincide with related people.Is there really any human will that can string these events together?In the book, the well-known criminal police such as Dong Ju and a pair of men and women who have a relationship with the incident due to a wonderful fate track down the truth of the incident.

For Japan and Japanese people, Heisei 7 is the fiftieth year after World War II that ended in Showa 20 (1945), and people look back on these fifty years from various angles.However, shortly after the end of World War II, the world of mystery novels that started with Masashi Yokomizo’s work and quickly revived has left a different pace in the past half century.There have been periods of prosperity with continuous masterpieces, promising newcomers appearing one after another, and periods of stagnation where few new works have been seen. The world of mystery novels, which has gone through ups and downs and ups and downs, is now in the vortex of trends, and as the center of entertainment, it continues to release popular works that attract attention.When explaining the history of the current extremely prosperous Japanese mystery novels, the existence of Matsumoto Qingzhang cannot be ignored.Gai’s achievements are not limited to reasoning novels, but his short stories and novels such as "Zero Focus" and "The Wall of Eyes" have had an immeasurable impact on the world of mystery novels.

Matsumoto's first full-length mystery novel was serialized in "Journey" from the 32nd year of Showa to the second year.This geometrical, abstract-feeling title truly and truly expresses the essence of the speculative novel.In his essay "The Performance of Speculative Fiction", Gai explained its meaning in this way: The reason for choosing the title is because I think people are like a dot.And the line connecting the dots may be close friends, or lovers, or the relationship between seniors and juniors.But this line is either already set in the eyes of others, and it only needs to be connected; or it is actually not so and it seems to be so, it is just drawn by others - I think this is the case Not without it.

The solid line that was clearly drawn from the beginning and the dotted line that was secretly drawn and did not appear on the surface.Motivation is hidden in the interpersonal relationship woven by these two threads, and the reasoning thread that hangs on this series of events and events is what makes a mystery novel a mystery novel.The more ingeniously conceived a mystery novel, the more intricately entangled the dotted lines and the real lines in it, and the more difficult it is for people to pry into the truth of the incident.The process of investigating the motives and criminal methods of creating "dot and line" graphics, and gradually untangling these entangled lines is the greatest pleasure that mystery novels can bring.Moreover, the dotted line may suddenly turn into a solid line in an instant, and the sudden change of the situation will produce unexpected results... It is in such a background of "dots and lines" that Matsumoto captures social contradictions or organized crime effectively, which is the basis for Japanese mystery novels. bring about new developments.

As far as the marks left in the history of Japanese mystery novels are concerned, the existence of Morimura's family is as dazzling as Matsumoto's.In the first half of the Showa 1940s, before Morimura entered the reasoning literary world, the great upsurge brought about by the appearance of Matsumoto began to decline, and the literary world returned to silence.In the 44th year of the Showa era, with the Edogawa Ranpo Award, "Fictitious Empty Road", "Shinkansen Murder Case", and other works were published one after another, Morimura swept away the dull atmosphere in the literary world.

Using social themes to structure the story skeleton, through the new design and rigorous organization such as secret rooms or alibi, it shows the charm of mystery novels peeling off layers of bamboo shoots. The new path of reasoning novels is continuously expanded and consolidated.With the arrival of a period of high growth, Japanese society has become larger and is changing every moment.Using the new Japanese society where traveling abroad is commonplace and the Japanese people whose material life is extremely rich, Morimura can be said to have described a new "point and line".The enthusiastic and positive attitude of the family has not changed until now.

Mr. Morimura's enthusiasm for constantly pursuing new perspectives is especially expressed in this film.Through the tenacious follow-up and investigation of amateur detectives, "points and lines" gradually revealed a clear context.Then finally all the clues became clear and finally the criminal was arrested.Motives and criminal methods are unraveled, and "dots and lines" tightly connect them.Nevertheless, the whole piece ends with the wonderful result of the fact that a complete crime is established. Most mystery novels, especially long mystery novels, form the core of the story by any form of crime.Although there are works with the theme of historical mysteries such as Josephine Di's "Daughter of Time" and Takagi Binguang's "The Secret of Genghis Khan", those are still those that focus on the criminals who committed the crimes and the methods and motives of the crimes related to the murders. Works with major mysteries make up the vast majority.Moreover, most of the criminals who appear in mystery novels naturally hope to plan a complete crime to avoid legal prosecution.Hope to be a complete crime, but the result is vulnerable and collapsed, which is one of the supreme pleasures that mystery novels bring to people.Morimura boldly challenged the conventions of mystery novels with this novel.He wrote in the first edition:

No matter in the act of committing a crime or in the law, the prisoner is very clear. However, the prisoner is someone else.The real prisoner didn't give any instructions or orders, just hid in the shadow of crime and laughed.This is what is called a complete crime. (omitted in the middle) Who is the real criminal?If readers still have the feeling that the real culprit is still hiding in the dark and laughing after the intricate crime mystery is solved, and feel unsatisfied with it, then the author's original intention has been achieved.In this work, what is pursued is a psychological feeling that is different from the pleasure of reading brought to readers by previous reasoning works.

So, to what extent is the author's intention carried out in his work?Is a complete crime really established?Seiichi Morimura's intricate and alternative "dots and lines" lead readers to a colorful reasoning journey. According to the translation of the second edition of Kadokawa Shoten in May 1997